Maybe the nursery rhyme wouldn’t be accurate anymore, but we bet the mice would be happier. The retina is the membrane in the back of the eye that serves the extremely important functions of processing the light that comes into the eye and then sending the signal through the optic nerve to your brain so you see that beautiful sunset or that smiling, happy face or that wagging tail.
Unfortunately for many people in this world, retinal problems are a common cause of blindness. What’s worse is that treatment for retinal problems hasn’t been very successful in the past. Well, that may be about to change. Researchers have been able to delay the onset of blindness in mice with retinal degeneration by treating them with nerve stem cells. Thanks to this research, there may be a promising new treatment on the horizon for people with retinal problems.